I hired this company several years ago to do some simple work on a deck. The work took a while longer than they originally estimated, but I figured that would be the case. I was told "one day job" and it stretched into four or five days. I was quoted a price that was lower than a few other bids I received form local companies. Truth be told, this is why I selected the company, but the decking repair I needed was straight forward and about as uncomplicated a job as one could sign up for. Less money sounded like the wise choice and the owner, Matthew Olyphant along with another guy whose name I do not recall seemed like ok guys.
Upon completion of the job, I received a bill that I didn't expect. It was nearly twice the cost of the original bid. The owner presented it to me while I was hosting a late lunch and had a house full of guests. I paid him and mentioned I would be in contact. I was not happy with his business style. With a house full of guests, I felt it was better to handle the issue the following day. I told Mr. Olyphant I would be in touch to discuss a few items.
The next day he could not be found. This continued for months. Less than a week after the job was completed, I realized that it had not been done correctly and was in fact falling apart. The job needed to be repaired and the deck was left in a dangerous state. I tried to reach the owner for months. When we eventually spoke, he assured me he would fix the deck promptly, but he never showed. Eventually, I filed a lawsuit. This got their attention. Within two days of serving them with legal papers I was refunded some of the money. I rejected their offer to fix the poorly done work and went with another company. Matt Olyphant came to my house and offered to make the repairs free of charge. Free!!! I already paid for the work and he had demonstrated he could not get the small job done. You know the saying fool me once...
While helping my son look for a contractor to work on his Napa home, we came across a report for this Mr. Olyphant's company Above the Rest Fences and Decks and it brought back the bad memories of that job. I thought I should file this to save others from the headache and run around I dealt with.
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